


Missing

by lha



Series: Gabriel Lorca: Child-whisperer [11]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Abduction, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crossover, Gen, M/M, Missing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 11:01:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13973673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lha/pseuds/lha
Summary: He looked at them, and his heart broke all over again, “I will do absolutely everything I can to bring them home girls, please know that.”





	Missing

“Lorca,” he answered automatically, continuing to pick up PADDs he wanted to take with him and wondering what on earth his assistant had been thinking letting another call through when he was already running so late. 

“Cap’in?” The familiar nickname and the obvious distress in the tone would have stopped him short any day, but today…

“Jess, Daisy,” he greeted their tear stained faces, his hands stilling.

“Sylvia said we shouldn’t call,” Daisy said, looking once again like a young girl rather than the Starfleet cadet she now was. 

“But we had to Cap’in,” Jess said. 

“You’re always welcome to call, I just don’t have anything else I can tell you,” he said honestly, “I’m due to ship out on the Enterprise, I should have been away by now in fact but I promise I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.” He looked at them, and his heart broke all over again, “I will do absolutely everything I can to bring them home girls, please know that.”

“You come home safely too, Admiral,” Daisy said, shoulders back and chin held high.

“I’ll do my best, now, is Sylvia there?”

“I’m here Gabriel,” she said, “you go back to the living room girls, I’ll be through in a second.” They waited a moment until they were gone. “Any news?” she asked seriously.

“No. I don’t know, Michael’s on the scene. The Enterprise should get me there by tomorrow. I’ll feel better when I’ve got a handle on the situation myself. 

“But just… they were on holiday Gabriel…”

“I know. I know.” Paul’s latest research had caused something of a stir in the scientific community and Hugh’s work on interspecies in vitro fertilisation had certainly made him some enemies but what either if them had done to result in them being captured or… Gabriel had to focus on this, on the here and now, not on what might be happening to them, have happened to them, what had happened to him. “I’ve got to go,” he managed eventually, “look after them?” he asked, his sincerity breaking through.

“Of course, and you look after you Gabriel,” Sylvia said with equal emotional sincerity. 

“Will do,” he signed off knowing that he didn’t have the time to lose on any more. Why they kept telling him to look after himself he wasn’t sure but it would be something to talk about with his counselor at their next session. In the meantime, he had work to do.

“Admiral Lorca,” Captain Kirk greeted him as he stepped off the transporter. 

“Let’s go Captain,” Gabriel said, “as soon as you like.”

“Commander,” the Captain instructed, “get us under way.”

“Aye Captain,” the Vulcan said, turning on his heel and heading, presumably for the Bridge. This must, Gabriel realised, be Sarek’s biological son but this wasn’t the moment for introductions. 

“Best speed it’ll be just over fifteen hours till we rendezvous with the Columbia,” Kirk said as they left the transporter room. “We have quarters put aside for you, but if you’d like to join us…”

“Thank you, but I’ve got some work I want to do before we get there,” Gabriel said.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” said the officer in medical sciences uniform, “but it’s gone 23:00 San Francisco time.”

“Doctor…” Gabriel said, pausing and waiting to be introduced.

“McCoy,” he provided, holding out a hand. “I had the honour of working with Dr Culber at Starfleet Medical. He’s a good man.”

“Well then Dr McCoy,” Gabriel said, shaking the proffered hand, “congratulations on your basic understanding of Earth’s time zones.”

“Bones here has a pretty good grasp of most things I’ve discovered,” Kirk said with a half smile.

“Why don’t I walk the Admiral to his quarters, Jim?” The doctor suggested and at least partly to Gabriel’s surprise, Kirk acquiesced. 

“Until tomorrow then, Admiral,” the captain said, with a casual wave of the hand and he peeled off down a corridor.

“Right, this way Admiral,” the doctor said, leading them off in the opposite direction. 

“I…” Gabriel started but didn’t get much further.

“I prescribe a healthy measure of scotch and some sleep Admiral, with or without company.” Gabriel stopped and turned to look at the medic. “I meant the scotch Admiral, I think you’ve had as much excitement as you need today.” 

“Thank you for your advice doctor,” he said walking on, “but as I’ve said, there’s work I need to do.”

 

“There’s been no new information in the last six hours and I’m guessing that you were notified about their disappearance when it happened?” Gabriel watched the other man, trying to judge how serious he was. He had in fact been woken just before 03:00 hours that morning by central command and would have been no matter which high level personnelle had been involved. “You’ll be far more effective tomorrow if you’ve had some sleep tonight.”

“I don’t think that I could sleep even if I wanted to.”

“Hence the scotch,” McCoy said frankly. “Now, there’s a bottle in here that I would like the chance to sample but if you’d rather some time alone I won’t be offended.” Gabriel paused at the threshold, considering his options. His instinct was to decline, to lock himself away and pour over the limited data that they had on the situation until they arrived but if anyone would have wanted him to do something different it was Paul and Hugh.

“Well I suppose you’d better come in then Doctor,” he said.

 

****

Gabriel didn’t think he’d ever been so relieved as he was when forty-eight hours after he set foot on Columbia, the door of a shuttle opened and Hugh and Paul walked out hand in hand and under their own steam. While the situation had been fraught and the outcome certainly not guaranteed, it had gone far better than Gabriel might have hoped. They’d been snatched by an opportunist, and knowing their value lay in their being fit and healthy, he had kept them in reasonable conditions. While they’d shown some sense in that, the captors ability to negotiate however, had been debatable at best.

“And there he is,” Paul said, “Admiral Lorca, our saviour.” 

“Let’s not go that far Captain Stamets,” he said dryly as they approached, “but it is very good to see you both.”

“The Admiral has been instrumental in the operation to secure your release,” Michael said.

“I’m sure you’d have managed admirably in my absence Captain Burnham,” he said, genuinely uncomfortable and determined to change the conversation. “You’ll need to be debriefed of course but I think that can wait a few hours.”

“We’ll get you processed through sickbay and we’ve quarters set aside,” Michael continued, “It’ll be another twenty-hours before we’re back at Earth but I’ve told them to free up the long range comms whenever you’re ready.”

“I can attest to the fact that there are two young women, very keen to see your faces,” Gabriel said with a smile. 

“I’ll hold off the rest as long as I can,” Michael said as they left the shuttle bay and started, along the corridor, “but I suspect you’ll find that Sylvia has arranged some form of gathering for not long after you return.”

“Let’s see if we can’t put her off?” said Hugh with a gentle laugh, “I’d like to get my feet back under the table before there are people dancing on it if I can.”

“I’ll do my best,” Michael said, “but it’s not always that simple when Sylvia has set her mind to something.” 

“I could always get you posted back to deep space?” Gabriel said casually.

“Pretty sure not even you have that much control over Medical postings,” Hugh said, “but thank you for the thought.” Gabriel waved a hand nonchalantly as the doctor fell into step with Michael ahead of them. It had been a long few days and now that the worst was over everything was catching up with Gabriel. Seeing them actually in person seemed to have released something in him and he was suddenly deflating. He was sure that when he’d been younger he had had much better staying power.

“Have you slept at all since you found out we were gone?” Paul asked.

“Yes,” he replied, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Really?”

“Shouldn’t I be the asking you if you’re sure you’re ok.”

“I’m pretty sure we look better than you do currently.”

“The Head of Life Sciences on Enterprise, he makes me look like a pushover. We had a few drinks, I slept after that.”

“McCoy?” Hugh asked as they reached the entrance to the medical bay.

“Yes, McCoy. Now I’ll file the basics tonight, you give the girls my love when you speak to them.”

“We will,” Paul said, gripping his arm, “thank you.”

“Eat and sleep,” Hugh said, reaching up to peck his cheek. 

“Just another day at the office, gentlemen.”

Gabriel did eat and sleep, after he’d submitted his own formal report of the operation, his rest wasn’t easy though. He woke gasping, fighting with the sheets, his heart hammering in his chest. He lay, blinking at the ceiling trying to pull himself together, working through all the exercises and routines he’d learned. Strange spaces didn’t help though and while he managed to get his breathing and his heart rate under control he knew that the night was loss. Getting up, Gabriel set about trying to catch up on some of what it was he had supposed to been doing this week in hopes of making next week more bearable. When the door chime went he said enter before he’d really thought about it. 

“Are we interrupting?” Hugh asked from the doorway where both he and Paul stood now back in uniform.

“Wha… no,” he said glancing at the chronometre and realising that it was much later than he’d thought.

“Well you changed at least,” the medic said, crossing to the desk behind which Gabriel was sitting in his pyjamas

“Hmmm,” Gabriel said, surprised when Hugh reached out to put his hand on his forehead. “I’m not sick,” he protested. 

“You’re not hot but you are all sweaty looking.”

“Nightmares?” Paul asked, wondering across room to the mess of the unmade bed.

“Hmmm, look I’m fine. I lost track of the time and I wasn’t expecting visitors.”

“Well we’re due back at Sector 001 in three hours and we have very strict instructions on what happens next.” Gabriel frowned. 

“I was hoping that we’d have managed to get you debriefed before we got back so that you could go straight home.”

“Done,” said Paul. “Michael and her XO saw to it.” 

“Katrina was staying with the girls last night,” Hugh added, “she said to say you were to take the next few days off.”

“And Daisy said that we’re to bring you back with us,” Paul added.

“That’s ridiculous…”

“No. It’s what our daughters want and that’s all I care about today,” the scientist said.

“Apparently it’s old films, pizza, ice cream and the sofa for us today,” Hugh said, “Katrina’s going to stay till we get back, she said something about wanting to talk to you about time stamps on official reports.” 

“Ugh,” Gabriel said. 

“Come on then, shower and dressed and then you can join us for brunch with Michael.”

“I should just…” Gabriel said looking at the PADDs still sitting on the desk in front of him, before stopping himself. Looking up he saw the pair of them looking unimpressed. “Shower, dress, brunch,” he agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you've enjoyed!  
> Love to hear your thoughts here or across on twitter @LHA_again  
> Thanks for reading,  
> Lx


End file.
